Show Notes
[00:00:00] Sherman Hu: This week’s podcast by ALTUS Chiropractic and Physiotherapy, I have the wonderful Zarah with me today. Zarah, good afternoon. How goes it?
[00:00:09] Zarah Jamoralin: Hello!
[00:00:10] Sherman Hu: Zarah, I understand you’re a Registered Massage Therapist, an RMT at ALTUS Chiropractic and Physiotherapy. Am I correct?
[00:00:17] Zarah Jamoralin: Yes, I am.
[00:00:19] Sherman Hu: That’s great. We had a conversation before the podcast. You’re working with clients on prenatal and postnatal massage therapy.
[00:00:28] Zarah Jamoralin: Yes.
Origin Story of Zarah’s Passion Towards Prenatal and Postnatal Massage Therapy
[00:00:29] Sherman Hu: Yeah, that’s great. Now, was there an interest towards prenatal and postnatal from way back or what was your passion towards this?
[00:00:38] Zarah Jamoralin: I actually have an eight-year old daughter. I got a little bit interested in it a few years back after actually my whole pregnancy journey. I didn’t really know about this kind of things when I was pregnant. And then afterwards as I was trying to learn more about pregnancy and stuff I came into this massage program and these massage techniques and I’ve been learning throughout the last couple of years now.
Problems/Issues Expecting Moms Experience During Pregnancy
[00:00:59] Sherman Hu: That’s a [00:01:00] wonderful. It’s amazing when you have that origin story that started the passion down to this path. Let’s step back one step, what are some of the problems or issues expecting moms, or after they deliver, what are some of the issues that they’re experiencing with their bodies?
[00:01:19] Zarah Jamoralin: Everybody’s pregnancy journey’s all different, but common things that most pregnant women experience are lower back pains with their growing bellies, especially towards the third trimesters. The bigger you get, the more usually lower back pain. There’s more swelling towards our feet and then pregnant women’s breast issues changing and getting larger. Sometimes they have neck issues, shoulder issues, and some postural issues as well.
Problems/Issues Moms Experience After Pregnancy
[00:01:45] Sherman Hu: Correct. So as they’re creating a human being in their bodies, there’s a lot of structural framework that changes that are giving them more pressure and more weight and in making shifts that sometimes are really painful.
[00:01:59] Zarah Jamoralin: [00:02:00] Yes. And then even after our pregnancy journey and even after postnatal, our body’s still changing.
[00:02:07] There’s a lot of changes for women to go through, some are still experiencing some lower back pain as maybe something that they’ve experienced even before and after their pregnancy. As they’re now changing into breastfeeding and holding their babies in a longer time period, you’ll experience more shoulder problems and neck issues.
[00:02:33] Sherman Hu: The longer term isometric hold of your baby.
[00:02:38] Zarah Jamoralin: Yes. A little baby can make a difference.
Benefits of Prenatal and Postnatal Massage Therapy
[00:02:42] Sherman Hu: That’s right. Any guy who thinks, oh, this is not a big deal. I challenge you to hold a five to ten pound dumbbell for long periods of time and you’ll see the difference.
[00:02:54] With your prenatal work and postnatal work with expecting moms and moms have delivered their babies, [00:03:00] what do you do to help them correct some of those pains or structural issues, actually more than massage therapy, right?
[00:03:08] Zarah Jamoralin: Yes. So some things that we can do is alleviate some of the pressure on your lower back. We use different techniques to help relieve those pressures. We also use pregnancy pillows.
[00:03:19] Women in their second and third trimesters can actually lay down on their tummy to help. And we can have better access to your lower back to help alleviate that pressure. And it’s also really for the moms as well, because now they’re not carrying that heavy load. And they can relax for a little bit and take a lot of that pressure on their lower back and some relaxing techniques for the whole body.
Feedback after Prenatal and Postnatal Massage
[00:03:47] Sherman Hu: That’s brilliant. What is some of the the feedback that you’ve received from moms that you’ve helped with prenatal and postnatal massage? What are some of the comments and [00:04:00] feedback that you’ve received?
[00:04:00] Zarah Jamoralin: I’ve had a woman who didn’t even have any lower back pain before. And then after their pregnancy, they’ve experienced lower back pain during her pregnancy. And working with them have definitely relieved a lot of the pressure that they’ve experienced. And if you have lower back pain, it’s always something that’s going to bother you. And relieving that pressure really helps and getting in there and having loosen up that muscles, loosen up that tissues will definitely relieve some lower back pain for many women who experienced that during their pregnancy journey and after their pregnancy journey as well.
[00:04:39] Sherman Hu: I totally believe that because I know when I have a kink in my lower back or my shoulder, just a little bit of discomfort throughout the day is a pain. You just want to get that taken care of. I can totally appreciate that.
[00:04:53] Zarah Jamoralin: And especially at night, you can never feel comfortable if you have that pressure there. And [00:05:00] just having a right position to sleep in is really hard, if you have lower back pain.
A lot of women are getting more massage during their pregnancy journey today
[00:05:05] Sherman Hu: Zarah, is prenatal and postnatal massage therapy something that a lot of women know about and embrace? Or is this something they are starting to be more conscious about?
[00:05:21] Zarah Jamoralin: I think it’s a little bit more aware now, especially when I was pregnant at my time, I wasn’t as familiar with it. But definitely now a lot of women are getting more massage during their pregnancy journey to help. It’s just another support system for them. And there’s definitely different changes that’s happening in your body.
[00:05:43] Another health professional to help you in that journey is definitely an added bonus to help you feel more comfortable. To help you feel less pain throughout that journey is definitely any benefit.
[00:05:56] Sherman Hu: Less pain is always good to me. To me, you were [00:06:00] describing it, I was associating it to when for the first time ever on mother’s day treated my wife to a pedicure, but we did it as a couple. So I had a sports pedicure, and it was an amazing experience. And I was thinking, where has this been all my life? How come I haven’t done it sooner? How come I don’t do this every week?
Other prenatal and postnatal massage therapy that helps women in their pregnancy journey
[00:06:19] Sherman Hu: The idea that prenatal and postnatal massage therapy can really assist women in their journey would be an amazing benefit to their bodies.
[00:06:29] Zarah Jamoralin: And it’s even after the pregnancy journey, there’s so many things we can also help like women who have gone through C-section as well, who’ve had scar tissue and we can also help with scar tissue health and help loosening up that tissue, help losing out that muscles.
[00:06:47] Some women do experience some tightness in that area. It tightens up and then deters their posture a little bit and they experience some pain in that scar tissue area. And that’s something we can [00:07:00] definitely assist them with after their postnatal journey.
Reach out to ALTUS Chiro and Physio for any post or prenatal help
[00:07:04] Sherman Hu: Okay. That’s wonderful. As we wrap up today’s episode, Zarah, I appreciate you sharing so much information about prenatal and postnatal massage therapy. As we wrap this up, any final words for our viewers or listeners about them being able to reach out for this kind of care?
[00:07:20] Zarah Jamoralin: Women who are interested in post or prenatal journey is something that we can definitely help them with. Anything from lower back pain to shoulders, even lymphatic drainage for their swelling of their breast issues is something that here in ALTUS we can definitely help with their journey.
[00:07:39] Sherman Hu: That’s brilliant. That’s brilliant. Thank you so much! For folks that want to reach out to Zarah, they can reach out to her by booking an appointment. Telephone numbers are at altuschiroandphysio.com.
[00:07:49] Of course, on this video, you’ll be able to see the telephone number also. Zarah, thank you so much for sharing with us and your time today. And viewers and listeners, stay tuned next week as we cover more chiropractic and [00:08:00] physiotherapy and massage therapy topics powered by the ALTUS Chiro and Physio team.
